BRATTLEBORO — For the second year in a row, the Brattleboro Boys & Girls Club is hosting the Going the Distance ride to raise money for the club.
A total of seven cyclists - three new, four returning - will start at the Canadian border and ride 200 miles down the length of the state along the Connecticut River Valley before finishing in Brattleboro.
Dr. Robert Nassau, board president, is one of the returning riders, along with Chris Chapman, Jim Robinson, and John Bentley. The new bikers are Fred Newton, Ian Conway, and Kate Conway.
Last year, the riders raised $22,000 to fill a deficit caused by government cutbacks.
“Raising money was harder than the ride itself, actually,” said Nassau. “Once we were out of family members and friends, we called upon neighbors, old friends from high school, anyone who could help.”
This year, however, the Going the Distance ride has a wider array of support, most of which is coming directly from the Brattleboro area.
“We are really fortunate to have support from Hotel Pharmacy, the Trust Company of Vermont in Brattleboro, and the West Hill Shop in Putney,” Nassau said.
The Brattleboro and Putney Food Co-ops, The Marina restaurant, and Leader Beverage Co. of Brattleboro will also provide food and beverages to the riders, allowing as much money as possible to go directly to the cause.
The ride is just one way the Boys & Girls Club is reaching out into the community. Most of what the club does happens at an everyday level in the organization's Flat Street location.
“People always talk about the kids outside the Transportation Center,” said Nassau. “It's true that kids hang out there, but on any given day, there will be between 70 to 80 kids inside the Boys & Girls Club hanging out, but learning all the while.
“As a retired pediatrician, I see the main function of the Boys & Girls Club as preventative care. We see the games and activities as a hook to get them in the door; once they're here, then we can really start to work.”
This “work” varies from help with homework to cooking meals.
The club now makes dinner for kids four days a week, one of which is open to kids, who may be a bit older, coming from the Youth Services Program.
“The idea is that if we have them here, helping them, building a community, they aren't on the street and will be less likely to get in trouble,” Nassau said.
This kind of community building takes place outside the clubhouse as well. The kids participate in Green Up Day annually, as well as community service on their own.
Recently, the kids won $7,000 worth of technology in a regional competition through Google. The money will go toward further improving the resources of the club.
The sense of community is evident from a walk through the clubhouse. All around the walls are posters with the question, “R U 52?”
“The 'R U 52' program was started by the staff here and is local to this branch,” said Nassau. “Broader national statistics say that kids who make more than 52 visits, or more than once a week, to their local Boys & Girls Club will get more out of it and are likely to 'graduate' from their club once they finish high school. Once we started the program, we looked in our books to see which kids had been here more than 52 times and had a ceremony for them.”
Such a program encourages kids to keep returning to be a part of the club, while providing more opportunities to help the kids who might not have a parent at home after school.
“A majority of the kids who come to the club come here after school for the support,” Nassau said. “They may not have a hockey dad or soccer mom at home to help them, so we step in.”
In the 12 years that the Boys & Girls Club has been based on Flat Street, its more than 1,100 members have seen the club undergo major development
From boasting the largest indoor skate park in the area, to recent renovations funded by Entergy, the club has been seeking new ways to make it a more effective tool for the community.
“Through the combined efforts of a dedicated staff and ever-improving programs, the Boys & Girls Club has a 100 percent high-school graduation rate and zero percent pregnancy rate,” said Nassau. “Our goal is to help youth navigate through adolescence and develop into young adults who will be productive members of the community; people who local businesses will want to hire; people who are invested in their futures.”